


Pirates of the College Campus

by TuppingLiberty



Series: Tlib FFC 2020 - original works [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Baseball player, College, February Ficlet Challenge, February Ficlet Challenge 2020, M/M, Meet-Cute, Napster type Pirates, Pirates, but not of the Caribbean, early 2000s, nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22552087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TuppingLiberty/pseuds/TuppingLiberty
Summary: Ryan worries when his online friend T-Dubs' torrent goes offline for the first time in ever. Using his charm, he manages to figure out their dorm room number, but when he finally meets his friend, what surprises are in store?FFC Day 3: Pirates AU or Intoxication
Relationships: OMC/OMC, Ryan/Taylor
Series: Tlib FFC 2020 - original works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620334
Comments: 19
Kudos: 20
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2020





	Pirates of the College Campus

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this one, trying to remember my college days. Did you have a file-sharing network that was only for your college campus? We had that, and we could chat in it, it was pretty cool. There was this one kid who had like, a million files and I was always trying to get in their queue. 
> 
> Note: I don't describe either character in this intentionally because a)I'm bad at physical description and I didn't want to fuss with it in a short work and b) it allows you to cast your favorites in the roles. If I say Taylor is "the most beautiful boy Ryan's ever seen" you get to picture whatever you want there. 
> 
> If I ever flesh out these stories, I'll add physical descriptions. :)

“No, no, noooo!” Ryan moans, until his dormmate beans him in the side of the head with a rolled up sock. “Gross.” He tosses it back with perfect aim, because there's always time to work on throwing.  


“I had to do something to shut you up. Dramatic much?” Steve rolls his eyes even as he scrunches his eyebrows together to continue reading his O-Chem text. 

“Rude much?” Ryan retorts, pushing back from his desk. “My torrent quit at like...90%. Another hour and I could have had the original Laserdisc recording of Star Wars.” 

_ “Nerd,” _ Steve intones from his bed. 

“Hey, that version has historical significance, okay?” Ryan feels a pang of disappointment. He only knows the historical significance of the Laserdisc recording of Star Wars because T-Dubs told him about it in chat one night. Passionately. With lots of exclamation points and O.O faces when Ryan had admitted he’d never seen the originals. Like, at all, ever.  


He clicks through the file-sharing program, trying to find the torrent again, but it appears the user has gone offline for the first time in...well, in the entire time Ryan’s been pirating movies from them. 

_ TimeyWimeyWibblyWobbly is currently offline. _

“Hey, you think I should call the campus police on T-Dubs? They went offline, and they never do that. What if they’re lying on the floor of their dorm room, murdered?” 

“If they were lying on the floor of the dorm room murdered, why would the murderer disconnect their computer from the server?” Steve replies, stupidly logical. 

“I read a story about this guy who always ordered pizza for delivery from this one shop, and then one time he didn’t, and the pizza place called the cops because he never misses, and he was having like, some type of medical thing and they saved his life.” 

Steve arches a brow. “Okay, well. Let’s run this play through. You somehow manage to figure out who T-Dubs is, you what, report them to the campus police? You do realize that the whole network is illegal, right? Do you want them to get kicked out?” 

Ryan thinks about the good times he’s had with T-Dubs in the server’s chat room. Sometimes they’re entertaining a large group of their fellow students, and sometimes it’s just the two of them, and things get deep. Ryan’s pretty sure he’s told T-Dubs more personal stuff about himself than he has anyone else, including Steve. 

Like how Ryan’s not sure what the heck he’s doing here in college other than playing some amazing baseball, has no idea what his major should be, feels pushed here by his parents. And like how he’s kind of worried he might be bi, and he doesn’t know what that’ll mean to people like Steve and the other guys on the baseball team. It’ll make the locker room weird, for sure. It’s not like he’s looking, it’s just that-

But T-Dubs had let him just...talk, and be. They’re one of the most important people in his life, and he doesn’t even know their name. Essentially, they’re everything every adult has ever warned him about someone on the internet, and yet...

“Maybe...I find them myself.” 

“And how the fuck are you going to do that?” Steve is starting to look annoyed at the constant interruption to his homework, and Ryan doesn’t exactly blame him. Organic Chemistry looks so beyond anything Ryan could comprehend, he’s incredibly glad he’s not the one who has to do it.

Ryan chews his lip and taps his fingers on his desk. “I mean, I have to try, right?” 

How exactly the fuck he does that is a story for another time. Mostly, it involves shady deals with less-than-scrupulous-about-personal-information RAs who had bent much more easily to Ryan’s “but what if they’re in trouble” strategy than he’d expected. It’s about two hours of hoofing around the school, using his charm and smile and good looks to get what he wants. He’d feel worse about it, but he’s genuinely worried about T-Dubs’ safety. 

He finally tracks them down to a single tucked on a quiet floor in one of the buildings across campus. There’s one of those little RA made signs - a daisy for spring quarter - proclaiming that ‘Taylor’ lives there. 

Taking a deep breath, Ryan raises his hand to knock on the door, but before he can, it opens and probably the most beautiful boy Ryan’s ever seen plows right into him. Ryan manages to wrap his arms around the guy - Taylor? T-Dubs? - and keep them both upright by reversing the backward momentum and pinning him against the wall. As soon as he realizes what he’s doing, though, he drops his arms and takes a step back. 

“Sorry-” They both start at the same time, then stop, and laugh awkwardly. 

“Sorry, it looks like you’re busy headed somewhere?” Ryan moves out of the guy’s way to let him by. 

“Did you- did you need something?” He’s anxious, Ryan can tell, by the way he’s twisting his hoodie’s arm around his wrist. 

“This is going to sound really, really dumb, but...are you TimeyWimeyWibblyWobbly?” 

The guy’s eyebrows raise toward his hairline and he glances nervously around. “Most people call me Taylor.” 

“Right. Taylor. I’m Ryan. Uh, EternalRipkinFan1?” 

_ “You’re  _ Eternal?” Abruptly, Taylor eyes Ryan up and down as if he can’t quite believe Ryan’s standing before him. “What are you doing here? How’d you find me?” 

“Ryan. I may have...bribed a significant amount of people. It wasn’t easy, believe me. Your secret’s safe.” 

“But why are you here?” Taylor fiddles with his backpack strap, gaze cutting to the floor.

He’s the perfect height for Ryan to lean down and kiss without stooping, Ryan suddenly thinks, then shakes his head as if to clear it. “I was worried when it said you were offline for the first time this year. You’re never offline. It’s probably stupid, but I just-” Ryan rubs the back of his neck. “I was worried.” 

Taylor stares up at him, dumbfounded. “You noticed I was gone?” 

“Well, yeah.” 

“That’s...really sweet, if kind of creepy.” But Taylor gives him a little grin, like it’s a secret they can share. 

“So...are you okay?” 

Taylor sighs, leaning back against the wall. “There were some people in the chat that were being assholes, so I decided I needed some time away for a bit. I...figured you wouldn’t notice, with baseball season in full swing.” 

Now Ryan has to grin. “Was that a baseball pun?” 

“Absolutely intended. I’ve kind of...nerded out on baseball recently.” Taylor’s smile turns shy as he looks up at Ryan.

Ryan takes a step closer, though not crowding into Taylor’s space. “I’m sorry assholes drove you off the chat. Do you have AIM? I’d miss talking to you.” 

This time it’s Taylor that makes a move into Ryan’s space, nearly chest to chest. “You’d really miss chatting with me?” 

Ryan takes a chance, reaching out for Taylor’s hand. “Of course I would. Besides, I never finished getting the original Star Wars movies. You can’t leave me hanging.” 

Taylor slides their fingers together so they’re actually holding hands, and a thrill shoots through Ryan, all the way to his toes. “You want to come over this weekend and watch them, instead? You have a game on Saturday afternoon, right?”

“You keeping track of my schedule?” 

Taylor blushes, looking to the floor but still holding Ryan’s hand. “I’ve been going to the home games when I can. Mostly wondering from afar which player is EternalRipkinFan1. I was already planning on going to Saturday’s game anyway. I never figured I’d actually meet you.” 

Ryan leans in closely, his lips brushing over Taylor’s cheek. “I’d love to come over after the game. It’s a date?” 

Taylor shivers and nods. “I- I hate to leave this, but I need to get to class. I’ve got to get to the Herron building.”

“Can I walk you?” 

It takes Taylor a second, but he nods again. “I’d like that.” 

“Can I keep holding your hand?” Ryan asks, turning toward the stairwell. 

“You- you don’t mind if someone sees you?” 

“I-” Anxiety sends its spiky adrenaline through Ryan’s system. “I don’t know. And I know that sucks.” 

Taylor pulls on his hand to get Ryan to lean down, and brushes a kiss over Ryan’s cheek in return. “Baby steps, babe. Let’s just try walking to class together for now, ‘kay?” 

_ Babe. _ Something about the epithet makes Ryan want to shiver. “You’re sure that’s okay?” 

“I think we can make it work.” Taylor holds his hand right up until they leave the stairwell and head outside. 

At the door to Herron Hall, Taylor pauses, nudging Ryan a bit with his body. “Wait one sec.” He pulls out a notebook, hurriedly scrawls something across a page, rips it out and shoves it in Ryan's hand. “See you later, okay?” 

“Bye.” Ryan opens the door for him, then feels a little silly as he watches Taylor walk away and into one of the large lecture halls. He looks down at the paper Taylor had pressed into his hand. 

_ 205-555-3521 -- Call me -- T _

The strange mix of anxiety and hopefulness and happiness that lights up inside him has Ryan running the rest of the way back to his dorm, his energy level off the charts. 

Grinning, he flops onto his bed and carefully adds Taylor to his cell phone, button push by painstaking button push. 

**Author's Note:**

> I fell in love with these two, so I think I'll expand on their story more. Give me nerd/jock pairings all day.
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated!


End file.
